Thread: UIGEA Won't Change Online Poker Industry: Report

Gambling Law Expert Tells Poker News Daily that UIGEA Regulations Will Not Have "Any Effect At All"

From the CAP News page:

July 30, 2009 (CAP Newswire) -- In an interview published at Poker News Daily, Nelson Rose, a noted gambling law professor who often speaks out on the regulations against online gaming, told the publication that, whether or not the law goes into fuller effect this December as planned, the UIGEA regulations are likely to have minimal impact on the poker industry at large.

“I think there’s a good chance that HR 2266 will pass,” Rose said, referring to the legislation currently in Congress that seeks to overturn most of the UIGEA's stipulations. “Nobody likes the regulations of the UIGEA, but it’s of such little interest to members of Congress right now."

However, Rose went on to discuss why it might not matter that much. “The whole focus has changed,” he said. “Instead of looking at individual transactions, financial institutions are now told not to. Basically, the whole program focuses on due diligence on new accounts. If you’re crazy enough to set up a bank account with an American bank, they’ll ask if you’re involved in illegal internet gambling. Banks are specifically told not to look at individual transactions, so it doesn’t really do much except impose an extra level of regulation and cost onto the banks. The payment processors have already figured out ways around it.”

“The UIGEA is a piece of garbage, but the regulators did the best they could do with it,” Rose continued. “It’s a requirement that banks spend money for nothing and that’s not what the government should be doing right now.”

Click here to read the complete interview at Poker News Daily.